DS Tap dancing....your views?

my ds 3.3 has recently started a tap/ballet class where they alternate each week.....he loves it out of 10 kids there are 3 boys...i think it is really helping his co ordination and also to have an element of control whilst running around and his memory is being improved recalling steps etc....

but yet i am getting a lot of stick from other parents about how he shouldnt be doing it as he is a boy...

i will continue to let him pursue it as long as he wants to and shows an interest,,,,

I would let mine.. he's 6 and desperate to join a dance class but there's not any near me I can get to at their times he's also in to karate, rugby and swimming so don't think he'd take any stick about it being girlie...

I would let him, our dance school has several boy tappers, some of them very good indeed. One of our oldest students has recently been awarded the highest mark in the country at a festival. The girls seem to flock round the male dancers,although there is some moaning around show times as the boys always get the better parts

what a load of shite - seriously OP tell them to fuck off and mind their own

adults who put their own pathetic views across like that don't deserve head space

if he's enjoying it, take him.

fwiw, DDs dance classes have more and more boys joining - it's awesome to see them all dancing together, somewhere where they can just enjoy the music and getting along without this arseholing gender separation gobshite

Yes, I would let my sons dance. My brother went to tap and modern classes from the age of 6 'till he left for the army at 16. There were only 2 boys in the class but he enjoyed himself and was never teased about it.

Tell your pathetic friends to grow up and let your kids do what they want.

Ds took tap at around 5, alongside ballet. He dropped it after a term as he was finding it too hard (I assume it's a baby tap class - most have an age limit of 5 or 6 for a full tap class), but he carried on with ballet.

Dd1 is a competitive tapper. Ds1 wishes he's carried on with it now. He might give it another go.

Really? My ds2 did tap for a few years about 8 years ago. There were several boys in the class. The only comments I ever got from other parents were along the lines of how lovely, I wish I could persuade my ds to dance. He also loved to wear pink. He gave it up and carried on with football <sigh>. I much preferred dropping him at tap class than standing at the edge of a freezing pitch!

I think he gave up (about age 6) when he realised it was mainly girls - peer pressure in other words.

Such a shame about the peer pressure influence. If it were Break Dance/Street Jazz, at his age a boy would be admired by his peers.Of course you should encourage him to persue all his interests , and he may be the next Michael Baryshnikov famous ballet dancer who has a daughter by a famous actress, Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly even.

Damemargot I can assure you it was partly down to peer pressure that my ds2 gave up. He started dance classes in reception, specifically tap in year 1 and gave up at end of year 2 - so he was just 7 as a young one in the year. By then he was the only boy left and this bothered him. Perhaps not peer pressure as such, but the lack of any other boys dancing.

DameMargot - I'm not sure what you are saying. Are you suggesting we influenced ds2 to stop dancing? He saw other boys leave and that put him off.

Of course if other boys had said to him - don't go dancing it's for girls - well yes that would stem from the parents. As I said it wasn't strictly peer pressure as he just didn't want to be the only boy in the dance class.

My ds is 9 and has passed primary and grade one tap and ballet with honours. He loves both classes. He is the only boy, he used to go to an all boys class but we moved and there isn't all boys here, he doesn't care.

He also does hip hop, breaking and street and recently auditioned for got to dance.

Tell them to mind their own business, in our old school, ds was with the older teens and young men and their shows were awesome